'CSBYE': DELANEY LEAVES'MIAMI' AS ROLE FADES

Emmy winner Kim Delaney is leaving CBS' CSI: Miami, the top-rated new series this fall, after her character, DNA specialist Megan Donner, declined in importance.

CBS announced her exit late Thursday. In a statement, the network said it, the production companies and the producers "jointly arrived at this decision upon recognizing that the character of Megan Donner was becoming less integral to the series as the season progressed."

A representative for Delaney said the actress did not have a statement at this time but confirmed that she was off the show.

Delaney's last appearance, which has been filmed, will air Nov. 25. CBS said that Donner's departure will be explained in an upcoming episode and that no other cast changes are planned.

CBS set up the Miami show in a spring episode of CSI: Crime Scene Investigation that didn't feature Delaney. She joined the spinoff in its premiere episode in September.

This summer, she sounded pleased by the prospect of working with David Caruso, who, like her, had appeared on ABC's NYPD Blue.

Producers hoped to duplicate the chemistry that Caruso displayed with Marg Helgenberger in the CSI episode. But Caruso and Delaney didn't click, and Delaney instead came off as tense and uneasy.

Delaney won a supporting actress Emmy for playing detective Diane Russell on NYPD Blue, then starred as a lawyer in ABC's Philly. That series lasted one season, and she made more headlines in February when she was sentenced to probation after pleading no contest to reckless driving in Malibu, Calif.

After Delaney and producer Steven Bochco decided that she shouldn't return to NYPD Blue, she moved on to CSI: Miami.

Her departure after 10 episodes should offer more opportunities to Emily Procter (The West Wing) and Khandi Alexander (ER), who had been overshadowed.